Sovereign and Good

Knowing a thing is from the LORD impacts our perspective.  To fight against what is from the LORD is to fight against Him.  Realising God is good and sovereign over all provides rest for our souls even when circumstances are out of our control.  By God's grace we can seek Him and the God who breaks can also make whole.

When it was revealed to King Hezekiah he would surely die, he prayed earnestly to the LORD with weeping.  He asked God to remember the good things he had done for God's glory.  In his sickness he mused, "How can I praise and honour you in the grave?  It is the living that will praise God!"  God graciously caused Hezekiah to recover and added 15 years to his life.  God even provided a miraculous sign that Hezekiah would be restored and go up again to worship in the house of the LORD by causing the sundial to reverse 10 degrees.

After Hezekiah recovered of his grave illness, a delegation from Babylon came with a gift.  King Hezekiah proudly showed off all the riches of his kingdom to friendly men from a far-off land.  Isaiah 39:5-8 reads, "Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: ⁶  'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the LORD. 'And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.' " ⁸ So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, "The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!" For he said, "At least there will be peace and truth in my days."  Upon hearing the revelation from Isaiah the prophet, Hezekiah's response is not what I would expect of any king or caring dad.

Let me say right off I cannot say exactly why Hezekiah would respond in such a manner, nor do I feel compelled to justify his remarks.  The good king recently experience a very near brush with death and was delighted to be spared by God's grace.  It may be nothing at the time could have derailed his euphoric happiness.  I think it highly unlikely his seemingly carefree response was due to him not believing the word of the LORD, for he celebrated the good news spoken by the prophet:  there would be peace in Hezekiah's days which were extended 15 years.  Hearing all he and his fathers had been accumulated would be taken along with his sons who would be made eunuchs in captivity didn't seem to phase Hezekiah.  His words have a similar ring to the words of Eli the high priest after hearing God would severely judge his house and vile sons in 1 Samuel 3:18,  "It is the LORD. Let Him do what seems good to Him."

Acknowledging the sovereignty and goodness of God in faith could be the explanation behind Hezekiah's indifference:  God has the power to kill and make alive, to wound and to heal.  What does it profit a man to fight against what is from the LORD?  The irony in this is Hezekiah wept over his own impending death, yet he behaved quite differently concerning the future of his children and people.  The reality is Eli nor Hezekiah could change their children, nor cause them to fear God and walk in His ways.  Instead of placing himself under this unbearable burden, Hezekiah praised and rejoiced in the goodness of God towards him.  When God allowed David's infant son to become deathly ill, whilst he lived David fasted and mourned.  However after it was confirmed he had passed away, David rose from the ground, washed, went to the house of God and worshipped, then ate food.  His counsellors were confused by this behaviour.  David's response was, "While he lived there was a chance God would heal him, but since he is dead what can I do to change it?"

To those who criticise or condemn Hezekiah for his response (praising the LORD over present good instead of mourning over future evil which was out of his hands), who are we to judge another man's servant?  It is before his own master a servant stands or falls.  I am no one to judge him, for I have celebrated what I ought to have mourned and mourned when I should have rejoiced.  Again, I can't say why Hezekiah acted or spoke the way we did because I am not God who alone knows the hearts of men.  What I can say is faith in God as our sovereign LORD leads to contentment and rest in Him even as days grow darker.  There is always cause to praise and worship God even in the face of doom or death.  Should our thanksgiving and joy in the LORD be tempered because of what might or will happen in the future?  Hezekiah prayed to the LORD and God heard him and preserved his life:  couldn't Hezekiah's children petition the LORD as well for a stay of their judgment?  Wasn't it their own responsibility before God to repent?  Hezekiah could pray for his sons and people, but he could not repent for them.